The pursuit of my Holy Grail in which I veer off into randomness

Gaslight with Rupert Young

Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the day in the company of Julie Bozza and we combined our love of theatre with Julie’s love of Rupert! The last time I saw Rupert on stage was when he appeared as CK Dexter Havenin High Society way back in August 2015.

Gaslight is, as stated in the programme, a Victorian melodrama set at the end of the 19th century. In a melodrama an innocent is menaced by an evil. Lovely Rupert was that evil. Julie and I were sat on the front row so I felt as if I were in the drawing room with the characters. This led to a disconcerting feeling as Rupert’s character, Jack Manningham, tormented his wife. His actions made me shuffle and look at the floor when Jack’s black heart was there for all to see.

The set was built at angles, like a cartoon, so you could fully see the ceiling as well as the walls and corridor leading away from the drawing room.

The play passed extremely quickly (maybe to do with the fact that we arrived with thirty seconds to spare!) but maybe to do with the fact that I was totally absorbed in the story.

I learnt yesterday that ‘Gaslighting’ is the term for a form of manipulation, the definition reads – to manipulate (someone) by psychological means into doubting their own sanity. If you’re interested (!) this is the Wikipedia page.

For more (detailed!) information Julie has also blogged about the evening performance prior to our visit here.

We waited at the stagedoor after the play and Rupert very kindly came out and had a chat with us about the play and his character. We had our photos taken with him and Rupert gave us both a hug. The grown-up woman in me smiled and politely said, thank you, the fangirl in me squealed!

I’m going to York in February to see the play again, this time with friends who do not understand the ‘waiting at the stagedoor in the cold’ thing. Maybe I’ll blog again and this time post the stagedoor picture!